Hello Richard,   
      
   RW>First, glad to see you [Dave Drum] still among us.  Hadn't   
   RW>seen you posting anywhere since you bailed on pol_inc a few   
   RW>months back.   
      
   Dan Ceppa left FidoNet years ago.  As did most other thinking people.   
      
    BK>> I do not consider balanced budgets all that great an idea, I am   
    BK>> just pointing out how the republican ideal was achieved only   
    BK>> under Clinton after 1969. Which, BTW, was LBJ's last budget, we   
    BK>> are talking fiscal years, not calendar years.   
      
    DD>> I don't know about how, or even if the numbers were manipulated.   
    DD>> But, I do know that I lived better and had more "effective" spending   
    DD>> power in my pocket when Slick Willie was there for eight years - and   
    DD>> shortly thereafter before George III managed to drive the economy   
    DD>> into the ditch - than at any time since. A balanced budget is a good   
    DD>> thing occasionally. As is paying down the national debt -- something   
    DD>> that Wall Street does not want to happen. They might actually have   
    DD>> to work for their profits if unable to make those "guaranteed"   
    DD>> dollars by investing in gummint bonds and treasury certificates.   
      
   RW>Would agree with that.  the only reason I did almost as well during   
   RW>Bush Junior's presidency at all was because i moved to wehre there   
   RW>was a wider variety of work for me.  But, that move was forced   
   RW>because GWB was driving the economy into the tank even in his early   
   RW>days, or at least helping it along that way.  TDuring the middle   
   RW>years of Clinton my usual clients at least had money to spend.   
      
   It is all too easy to blame GWB for the problems this country has.   
   But the fact of the matter is that those problems have existed for   
   years, with little or nothing done about them.  As a result, it was   
   just a matter of time before everything imploded and went to shit.   
   GWB simply made things happen sooner rather than later.   
      
   RW>AS for Wall Street, forget Wall Street, they've got their too big to   
   RW>fail happening when it comes to sticking their hands in our wallets   
   RW>after they screw it up.   
      
   Thank God our President saw the light and bailed out the auto companies   
   (and other businesses and industries).  Can you just imagine how many   
   folks would have been thrown out of work had he not done so?  It would   
   have been worse than the Great Depression.  Yes, some companies are too   
   big to fail.  The only other real option other than bailing them out   
   is for government to take them over completely.  And that would be an   
   absolute disaster.  But at least folks would have a paycheck rather   
   than no paycheck at all.   
      
   RW>Their version of the casino does alright even if the economy goes   
   RW>down the toilet for the rest of us.  Especially with average folks   
   RW>to bail their butts out.   
      
   The very wealthy can take care of themselves.  The poor cannot,   
   and will not, ever be able to care for themselves.  With more and   
   more of the middle class becoming poor, that means this country   
   will soon become more like Mexico than anybody wants to admit -   
   A small wealthy class, no middle class, and an extremely large   
   poverty class.  When that happens (not if), who is going to bail   
   out the wealthy?   
      
   "Corporations are people." - Mitt Romney   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.06.00.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)